Mason Health is continuing their commitment to environmental stewardship as they implement new methods to reduce waste, introduce environmentally-friendly equipment and eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals across the hospital district. Mason Health was recently celebrated for their work through three awards from Practice Greenhealth, including the Environmental Excellence Partner for Change Award, Greening the Operating Room Award and Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award.
Starting in 2020, Mason Health led the way as the first member of the Washington Rural Health Collaborative to partner with Practice Greenhealth, according to Jennifer Capps, chief development and communications officer for Mason Health.
“We’re not just a service provider,” explains Capps. “We are part of the fabric of the community, and we are responsible for making our community what we envision it to be.”
Over the past four years, the hospital district has made significant strides toward sustainability, including through the growth of the Mason Health Green Team, composed of hospital district leadership and staff, who look for ways to adopt sustainable practices in their respective departments, and help to educate fellow Mason Health staff members about sustainability.
Mason Health Is Celebrated for Reduction of Mercury Products Across the Hospital District
A major feat for the Mason Health Green Team in 2024 was receiving the Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award, for helping to reduce the use of mercury-containing products in Mason Health facilities. Sean Hazlett, director of supply chain at Mason Health says the supply chain team updated their approach to purchasing new materials and equipment for the hospital district, including reaching out to suppliers and asking if any products used by the district have mercury or other harmful materials present.
“We had basically revised our sustainable procurement policy to include hazardous materials that we would do our best to try and stay away from,” explains Hazlett.
Lindsay Roberts, laboratory manager and Green Team member for Mason Health, took an inventory for any potential products or equipment in the Mason Health laboratory that may use mercury. During this process, it was determined that a bulb used for UV sanitation in the lab’s deionized water supply did contain mercury.
In response, Roberts’ advocated for new mercury-free equipment during conversations with lab equipment vendors, and assured that additional hospital systems would likely follow. Roberts says that through those discussions, one of the lab equipment vendors that Roberts spoke with will soon begin to offer a water system that includes a mercury-free sanitizing bulb. In the near future, Roberts hopes the Mason Health lab can replace the current water system and install the mercury-free bulb.
Mason Health Receives Fourth Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth
Mason Health is a recipient of the Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Partner for Change Award in acknowledgement of the sustainable practices implemented across the hospital district, including within environmental services and laboratory services. Capps says sustainability efforts have evolved over the years, and a current project at Mason Health is targeting paper-related waste.
Hazlett has been a leader in the search for printer paper that is at least partially made from recycled materials. Currently, Mason Health uses Natural Choice, a type of paper that is created from excess material leftover from the production of wood products.
“Also working across the district, to help people think before they’re printing, to do double-sided, to try and reduce the number of sheets used,” says Hazlett.
Through these conservation efforts, Hazlett reports that the hospital district saved over 200,000 sheets of paper from being printed in 2023.
Mason Health Presented Second Greening the Operating Room Award
Lori Genson, Surgical Services Director at Mason Health has worked alongside other members of the Green Team to help make surgery more sustainable across the hospital district. In recent years, Genson has led a movement to decrease the amount of harmful smoke that can be produced in operating rooms during surgery, earning the Go Clear Award from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses in 2022.
Surgical tools and supplies can also generate a large amount of waste across the hospital district and to help combat that potential waste, Mason Health has been a longtime partner of Stryker Sustainability Solutions, which is a program that allows for certain medical tools to be safely reused. Hazlett says the Stryker Sustainability Solutions program was able to gather over 7,200 pounds of equipment from Mason Health within the last year, preventing these devices from ending up in landfills. In the future, Mason Health is interested in partnership with additional organizations that allow for the safe recycling and reuse of a broader range of medical devices and equipment.
To learn more about the Green Team at Mason Health, or sustainability efforts across the hospital district, visit the Mason Health website.
Sponsored